Adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming is a technique whereby, for each particular title or clip of streaming media, multiple bitrates (which correspond to quality measures such as video resolution or sound quality) are available from the content delivery network. As higher bitrates require more bandwidth—the rate of bit transfer is greater to carry higher quality streaming content—ABR enables participants in a content streaming arrangement to select bitrates which balance quality and participant capabilities by allowing quality to increase where resources (e.g. bandwidth, processor time, memory) can do so without interruptions (e.g., lag, buffering) or decrease to reduce or eliminate interruptions.
In typical ABR arrangements, ABR sources can be switched. For example, viewing a streaming library, a user may open a menu to select different content to view. Scheduling may automate switching, such as where live broadcasts are streamed or based on parental controls. This switching may involve pausing the stream to access a menu or continuing playback during selection. However, once a next ABR source is identified for streaming (switching from the initial ABR source), the system re-initializes its resources, playlists, and relationships within the streaming network prior to streaming the segments. This results in substantial delay before playback begins with content from the next ABR source.